If you're happy and you know it, clap … or else: research suggests many people clap because they feel socially pressured to do so. Photograph: KCNA/EPA

Catching the clap

Why do we clap in the theatre? You would have thought it was obvious. We clap to show our appreciation, and of course the better the show, the louder we clap. But according to science it's not quite as simple as that. Apparently clapping is contagious and people feel socially pressured to clap after a performance when others are doing so. In his review of the recent batch of Traverse shows critic Ian Shuttleworth suggests that sometimes what we are clapping is more complicated too.

Talking about Cadre, Omphile Molusi's heart-felt but unsubtle and unsophisticated story about one man's struggle against apartheid in 1960s and 70s South Africa, he writes: "I fear its reception may be principally, if unconsciously, as an item of ideologically sound dramatic exotica." So perhaps we need to think about exactly what it is we are clapping before we put our hands together. Although I have to say I've already seen sufficient numbers of poor shows to know that sometimes the only thing I'm clapping is my own unexpected survival.

Making an effort

Everyone knows that Edinburgh is not a level playing field. Anyone can come to perform, providing they have the £400 to buy an entry in the fringe programme and can raise the cash to book a slot in a venue. But while some here will be staying in five-star hotels, others are living eight to a room in hostels in order to realise their fringe dream. But last time I checked it didn't cost anything to make an effort.

Nobody appears to have done so with Making News, a so-called fast-moving satire about the BBC at Pleasance from the team that wrote last year's Coalition. It's stuffed full of comedians including Phill Jupitus playing the director general. But it's lame stuff: lazily scripted and painfully acted with the exception of Hal Cruttenden, who at least makes a genuine attempt to turn in a performance as a former investigative reporter turned egoistical news reader.

It has the feel of a show written in a hurry, staged in haste and performed by people who frankly couldn't give a damn. What riles me is that because it features a bunch of comedians it will be packed out with people who will have paid up to £15 each to do so. The audience loses out, but so do all the other performers on the fringe who are bringing their heart and souls to what they are doing. Trying and failing is part and parcel of the fringe, but not trying and still taking the money is just cynical.

A-paw-lingly funny

Cat overwhelmed by power of theatre: edinburghfuringe.tumblr.com

Some critics and commentators have been queuing up to tell us how delighted they are not to be coming to Edinburgh this year. That's their choice. I wouldn't want to miss it, because I know that coming to Edinburgh and seeing new companies is the best way of stocking the critical larder for the year ahead.

But those who chose not to come probably won't be missed: there are plenty of people writing about theatre on the fringe, redefining the role of the critic, and sometimes sending us all up. I loved Amy Taylor's spot-on spoof on the things critics say, and look too at Eve Nichols' purrfectly brilliant Edinburgh Furinge Reviews.